ERC and NCLR Investigation Uncovers Housing Discrimination against Latinos in Three Major Metropolitan Areas

NEW ORLEANS, July 22, 2013—Today the Equal Rights Center (ERC) —a national non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to equal opportunity for all—and The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) —the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—unveiled the results of a testing-based investigation documenting adverse and differential treatment against prospective Latino renters and homebuyers in Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and San Antonio, Texas.

The report, titled “Puertas Cerradas: Housing Barriers for Hispanics,” documents the results of 225 matched-pair tests conducted by the ERC in the three major U.S. metropolitan areas. In 95 of the 225 tests conducted (42 percent), the Latino tester experienced at least one form or adverse, differential treatment as compared to their counterpart white tester.

“While the FHA expressly prohibits discrimination based on national origin, this discrimination has not gone away, and in today’s highly charged political climate, it has gotten worse,” said Don Kahl, Executive Director of the Equal Rights Center. “This report and its underlying testing clearly show that the Latino community continues to be targeted. It is critical that the community is informed about how to identify and report incidents of discrimination, and that [the community] knows that there are advocates, like the ERC, to help them maneuver through the process.”

All ERC testing utilized a “matched-pair” methodology, in which Latino and non-Latino white testers with virtually identical profiles interacted with housing agents in a variety of scenarios. In both San Antonio and Atlanta, the ERC conducted 50 phone tests and 25 in-person tests, in which trained ERC testers contacted real estate agents and inquired about buying a home that had an online listing. In Birmingham, the ERC conducted 75 in-person tests, in which trained ERC testers contacted housing providers about an apartment listed for rent.

“Given that Hispanics were disproportionately affected by the housing crash and represented a significant portion of those victimized by predatory lending, we thought it was critical to see if their recovery process was being impeded further by discriminatory practices,” said Lindsay Daniels, Associate Director of Housing at NCLR. “Unfortunately, our investigation did uncover that while in some cases more subtle, Latinos are still contending with discrimination in their efforts to purchase or rent a home.”

Some of the differential treatment experienced by Latino testers included:

Housing agents were less receptive to schedule an appointment with Latino testers than with their matched white testers;
Agents provided Latino testers with fewer options than matched white testers in terms of other homes for sale or number of units available for rent;
In sales tests, agents provided white testers with lender recommendations or other advantageous financing information that was not provided to their matched Latino testers;
In rental tests, agents quoted higher fees, costs, and/or more extensive application requirements to Latino testers than to their matched white testers; and
In many cases, agents provided follow-up contact via phone or email to the white testers but not to their matched Latino testers.

The report’s findings were announced jointly by NCLR and the ERC during NCLR’s 2013 Annual Conference in New Orleans, at a workshop of housing experts addressing issues at the intersection of fair housing laws and immigrants’ rights.

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About the Equal Rights Center (www.equalrightscenter.org)
Originally formed in 1983, the Equal Rights Center (ERC) is a national non-profit civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C. With members located in every state and the District of Columbia, the ERC works nationally to promote equal opportunity in housing, employment, disability rights, immigrant rights, and access to public accommodations and government services for all protected classes under federal, state, and local laws.

About NCLR (www.nclr.org)
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit http://www.nclr.org/ or follow along on Facebook and Twitter. Follow the conversation about the 2013 NCLR Annual Conference on Twitter at #NCLR13.